CBS, Couric in a tricky spot

If CBS wasn't intending to replace Katie Couric, it almost has to now.

A Wall Street Journal piece speculating that Couric would leave after the fall elections has set off a frenzy - I guess I shouldn't talk, considering this very column - in the media. Actually, all the WSJ story did was put the obvious into print: Couric has been an extravagant disaster for CBS, it's clear by now that this isn't going to change, and the most logical time for the network to cut bait is after the election cycle.

However, because everyone in the media - once again, guilty as charged - has put their own spin on the story, Couric might not last that long. Stories of celebrity failure feed on themselves. There's a strange phenomenon in TV. When shows with poor ratings are canceled, the ratings nose-dive precipitously for whatever remaining episodes there are. Maybe it's the stench of death. Maybe it's that no one wants to be associated with a loser.

This is the position where Couric finds herself in the wake of the latest round of "she's a goner" stories.

The dilemma for CBS is the same as the one that led to her expensive hiring. CBS has numerous candidates for the job but as a football commentator observed, "When you have more than one No. 1 quarterback, you have no No. 1 quarterback." If there was an obvious choice, he or she might be sitting in Couric's chair right now. He or she might have gotten the job before Couric did.

But a lot of the in-house names being bandied about - Scott Pelley, Russ Mitchell, Harry Smith - had to have been considered wanting before CBS backed up a Brink's truck to Couric's door.

Bob Schieffer, who did an admirable job, winning respect for the program as well as better ratings than Dan Rather and Couric, is not a viable candidate. The man will be 72 a month after the next president is inaugurated and wants to retire. At best, he would be an interim solution and CBS needs permanence.

Anderson Cooper seems to be a popular candidate. He's young, he has a CBS presence via 60 Minutes, he brings a touch of celebrity with his news chops, and it doesn't seem to matter anymore in TV news that he used to front Celebrity Mole and is a frequent fill-in host on the entertainment-oriented Live With Regis & Kelly.

The most ridiculous name thrown into the mix is Chris Matthews. The bombastic host of Hardball has become a cartoon character and has spent his life on the fringes of Democratic Party politics. The belief, justified or not, that CBS leans harder to the left than ABC and NBC is widely considered to be a part of the problem the network has in bringing viewers to its newscast.

This brings us to a name I haven't seen mentioned elsewhere, someone with a youthful persona and a name revered at CBS - Chris Wallace.

Mike's kid might be working for Fox News now but he isn't considered as partisan as many of his colleagues. It's not even clear that he is as conservative as John McCain, whose right-wing bonafides are being challenged by many Republicans.

Wallace's FNC credentials could actually help CBS to erase the stigma of being in the tank for liberal politicians and issues.

There's a question of whether Fox would let Wallace go - but you can bet that Roger Ailes, who runs the network, would love nothing better than to be able to brag that CBS had to turn to Fox News to fill a chair once occupied by Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite.